Packaging is a passion for award sponsor

July 25, 2007

Updated: Tuesday, June 8, 2010 (08:32)

SUSTAINABILITY is not just a way of life for St Neots-based Sealed Air. It s a passion. The company, which produces packaging materials aimed primarily at the food industry, has set itself a target of zero landfill. That means not only selling every piece

SUSTAINABILITY is not just a way of life for St Neots-based Sealed Air. It's a passion.

The company, which produces packaging materials aimed primarily at the food industry, has set itself a target of zero landfill. That means not only selling every piece of packaging material it manufactures but using every bit of raw material it buys in for the manufacturing process.

With standards such as these it is no surprise that Sealed Air, which has been involved in the Hunts Post Huntingdonshire Business Awards virtually since the "off" 10 years ago, should once again be sponsoring the Sustainable Development Award this year.

"It's very important to our business that we are a good corporate citizen and that whatever we do is aimed at reducing our carbon footprint," said Andrei Stoddard, the global company's plant manager in St Neots.

"We have had quite a lot of success within the company, and it's the sort of achievement our clients are looking for. For each of the past five years, our sellable ration, is now above 95 per cent of all raw materials. Our goal is to get as close as possible to 100 per cent, so we have very little product going to landfill."

Many Sealed Air products are household names, known to 80 per cent of the world's population - such as Bubble Wrap, Cryovac, Instapak and Jiffy Mailer, all of them registered trade names.

It specialises in materials and systems for protective, presentation and fresh food packaging, and performance solutions in the industrial, food and consumer markets.

Not only are the products themselves fully recyclable, but they help ensure extended shelf life for the perishable products they protect.

The benefits of sponsoring the award were primarily in the boost to the company's reputation in the community as a good corporate citizen.

Mr Stoddard said: "There's a very strong trend within our customer base towards insisting on sustainability. And, when people think about sustainability in the community, we want to be one of the key companies that come to mind."

That could be a smart move in a district with one of the highest rates of recycling in the country - already more than half the material Huntingdonshire folk discard is re-used rather than landfilled.